Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg appealed to developing countries to support Ukraine at the Monday UN Development Aid Conference in Qatar, emphasising Russia war of aggression in Ukraine is not just a European war.
Schallenberg called on developing countries to support Ukraine during the UN conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Qatar on Monday, having already announced in the run-up to the conference that he wanted to speak out against the “Russian narrative”.
Many countries of the Global South have been accused of being passive or even sympathetic towards Russia and its war narrative that blames the West for the war and the global rise in energy and food prices.
“If the law of the strongest applies, the security of all nations of the world is at risk,” Schallenberg said, APA reported. “Especially the least developed countries, and small countries like Austria rely on international law to protect against unilateralism and violence,” he added.
Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is “not a European war”, he stressed. “The past years have shown us that events in one place can quickly develop into a global shock wave,” he added.
Austria’s foreign minister also acknowledged that the least developed countries were particularly affected by the energy and food crisis with rising prices and disrupted supply chains, noting that the European Commission and the member states would continue to be “by far” the largest payers of development cooperation funds worldwide.
Austria, which continues to peddle a neutral stance towards conflict, has not sent any weapons to Ukraine but has so far spent millions on humanitarian aid.
From 25 January to 20 November 2022, Austria supported Ukraine with €570 million, a report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy reads.
At the same time, citizen donations for Ukraine amounted to about €56 million, which were collected thanks to the ‘Neighbour in need’ initiative, Van der Bellen noted during a solidarity visit to Ukraine earlier this year.
(Chiara Swaton | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
